fun with List Templates and Data Views in SharePoint Portal Area's

• Have you tried to create a new Custom List then wanted to create a new instance elsewhere?
• Ever tried to create a Data View in one area that access a List created in the 'Home' Area?

I did - and it wasn't quite what I was hoping for or expected. Certainly life is easier under WSS.

Initially I was trying to create a bunch of lists to manage some data in the portal and to display this data in other portal Area's. So the initial design was to create the Custom Lists in the Home area and then create a Data View web part that displayed this data in new and interesting ways in different Area's throughout the portal. Sounded good in theory - certainly works easy enough in WSS. <insert sound effect for wrong answer in a game show>

Anyway, I looked further into it and the error seemed to stem from the Area not "knowing" about the List template since the sub-Area was using a different template to the Home Area. So I then tried (stay with me, this learning experience is going somewhere) saving the Custom List as a List Template and to create a new instance in the other Area. Crash and burn again! Can't do that either. So you can save it fine, but you can only create that same Custom List in Areas that use the same template - ahhh! So you can see all the different List Templates in the one List Template Gallery but when you go to a specific Area and try to Create a new List it will only show those Lists that were created in the same Area Template.

So the solution is that you need to create Custom Lists in an Area that uses the same template as the Area's you would like to use and display that List (if that makes sense). In my case I created a new "hidden" Area called PortalData (below Home) and just "Excluded it from the Portal Site Navigation" (in the Area Settings - Display). I then also changed the Settings so that any sub-Areas created below my PortalData area inherited the template, thus allow me to create and use the Custom Lists. This finally worked. I create sub-Areas from the same PortalData, and can move them around (drag & drop them in the Portal Site Map) to wherever I want them. You may also need to un-exclude them from Portal site navigation if they are not showing up in the top navigation bar.

All's well. Hopefully that saves at least one other person from hours of pain!

Updated - 15 April 2005
Mads has a workaround that will save you re-creating Lists in different Areas. Thanks Heather 
Check it out here http://weblogs.asp.net/mnissen/archive/2004/10/01/236593.aspx